The Hungarian government demands that Hungarian citizen Előd Tóásó, who has been in pre-trial detention in Bolivia since 2009, should be released, Zsolt Németh, MFA State Secretary declared on Monday.

Speaking after a session of the inter-ministerial team working on the Tóásó case, Mr Németh insisted that under Bolivian law Mr Tóásó should have been released two years ago.

Last November the Bolivian government rejected a position by the European Parliament, calling on Bolivia to ensure fair and independent trial in the cases of Hungarian citizen Előd Tóásó and Croatian citizen Mario Tadic, imprisoned in Bolivia for more than 4 years under terrorism charges.

Accused of terrorism, Mr Tóásó has been locked up since April 2009 in spite of the fact that under Bolivian law pre-trial detention cannot last for more than 36 months and the legal procedure must not extend beyond 13 months.

On April 16, 2009, Bolivia's special forces cracked down on what was believed to be a terrorist unit in Santa Cruz. Előd Tóásó was arrested and has been kept in detention under suspicion of an armed uprising and terrorism since then. Charges were officially raised three years ago but the trial was postponed several times.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)